Improvement in machine-guns



3' Sheetsl-Sheet 1 Pater-ned A'prm, 1873-`l Inventur: A d? 4f/M MZ A M/ l. f .//f/I M m. m l Il I 41 r y 1 l f4 M A v m l M ,:w\\ u w 1 z a .0 Il 1 f lfrJ Annrnnvc 3 Sheets--SheetQ W. B. FRWELL. Machine-Guns.

Patented April 1,1873...

"Inventur: y

C)lilnesses q )2f/f i Attorneys.

at ithejsame time opening a i receives another VVILLARDB. FARWELL, OF VNEW` YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMNT IN ACHINE-Gu-Ns.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. HS'AQS, datedfApril 1, 1873 application tiled March 8, 1873.

,To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLARD B. FAR- WELL, of the city, county,and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Iznprovement in Machine-Guus, of which the folv lowing is a specification:

My invention consists of aseries of stationary breech-loading barrels, arranged' side by side in a frame which swingson trunnions for the vertical adjustment, the trunnion-bearings being arranged on a horizontal turning-table, for the lateral adjustment. The cartridges are placed in `hoppers over the barrels, one for each, having inclined bottoms, with an opening at the lower end, in which is a troughshaped backward-and-forward revolving; dropper, into whicha cartridge falls when the hollow side is up, and is dropped from it into a slot in the barrel behind the breech by the turning of the trough upside down., so that it closes the passage through the bottom of the hopper, atthe same time lpreventing the escape ofthe other cartridges. The cartridge falls into` a trough-shaped receiver in the slot of the barrel, which holds it coincident with the bore of thel barrel, and a cylindrical breech-closer behind the cartridge pushes it forward into the barrel and closes the breech. The breech-closer is then locked, to withstand the shockof the discharge, by a locking-bar on a strong cross-bar, which comes down into a Anarrow slot in the top of the barrel (which is extended behind the slot for receiving the cartridges) behind a strong stud rising up from the breech-closer. The hammer is then tripped and forced against a tiring-pin which Works in a central longitudinal hole in the breech-closer, and projects from the rear end to be struck by the hammer. The hammer is then forced back the locking-bar rises 5 the breech-closers withdraw; the receiver also withdraws, and pulls the cartridge-shell back by a flange on its upper side at the front end, passage through the barrel, through which falls. The receiver then closes said' passage, and cartridge from the above, and the operations above described are repeated. They are the saine for-all the barrels simultaneously, except the hammers,

thellower side of) the cartridge-shell goes forward again,

` double slide,

certain distance,

tance, causes the other part to discharge into every other hopper in such a manner that all the hoppers can be very quickly charged without the necessity of. pulling the slide the whole length of the series of hoppers, which would be the case if a single slide were used, thus simplifyingand expeditin g the charging, which must of necessity be done by drawing the slide in the lengthwise direction of the charger, so that the cartridges will roll off the slide sidewise, by which they fall into the'hopper without being disarran ged, as they would be if discharged from the slide endwise. Afscale is provided with the gun, to show by a pointer the amount it is necessary to turn the gun tional elevation taken on the line y y of Fig. 1.

on the line z z, Fig. 1. jFig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation taken on the line fr',

hand side. Fig. 7 is'a detail section of Fig. sented being those seen when looking in the direction indicated by arrow e. Fig. 8 is a detail section on the line z z', the parts represented being those seen when looking in the direction indicated by arrow b; and Fig. 9 is a plan of the under side of the charger.

A represents the barrels, which are arranged side by side and mounted on a frame, B, which is mounted on trunnions` C supported fby'a which, when one part is pulled a discharges into' every alteri nate hopper, and then, being pulled another dislaterally to shift the'range at the object fired l Figure l is a plan view of my improved gun. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal elevation taken on the Fig. 4.is 'a transverse sectional elevation taken Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a partial elevation of the lef't- 3 on the line y y of Fig. 3, the parts repreframe, D, which rests on a turn-table, E, which l is pivoted on a platform, G, on which it is turned for adjusting the guns laterally by the worm-wheel or disk F and the worm H. Irepresents the hoppers in which the cartridges are placed to be delivered' to the loading devices. They are arranged in a continuous series-across the barrels behind the same, and have a bottom, K, descending to an opening, L,at one side directly over a wide slot, M, in the upper sideof the barrel. N is a troughshaped cartrid ge-dropper varran ged in journals O in the sides of the hopper,.so that when 1 turned right side up a cartridgewill roll into it, and when turned bottom side up it will closetheopening through the bottom of the *hopper,'aud at the same time drop the cartridge contained in it into the slot M of the gun-barrel, where it falls upon the receiver P, resting there to receive and hold it directly in line with the bore Q of the barrel and infront of the breech-closer R,which slides forward Aand back in the barrel behind the breech S, and at the time the cartridge falls is in the position represented in Fig. 5. This breechcloser then moves forward and pushes the cartridge into the barrel, as shown in Fig. 2, a't the same time closing the breech. Then the locking-bar T descends into the narrow slot U of the barrel, with the front end behind the stud V and the rear end inI front of the shoulder W at the rear end of the barrel, and locks the breech-closer," so that it will withstand the shock of the discharge. Then the hammer X is thrown forward against the tiring-pin Y, reaching through the hollow axis of .the breech-closer to the cartridge, so as to be forced against the center of it and explode the fulninate. The locking-bar T then rises, the breech-closer goes back, and is immediately followed by the receiver I), whichwithdraws the shell by its ilange a and drops it through the slot b. The receiver immediately goes forward again ready for receiving another cartridge, which, as-bcfore described, is dropped into it bythe dropper N, which in the meantime has been turned right side up to get it. This dropper has a crank, d, which is connected, by a bar, c, and link f, with a crank,

y, which is geared by a pinion, h, with a vertically-reciprocating bar, z', having a yoke, j, in which a cam, k, ou the cranked cam-shaft i works. -The breech-closer It is connected to a cross-bar, m, which rests on the slides n, which have teeth on the under sides, and gear with the segmental wheels p on the rock-shaft q, which is worked by the segmental wheels yr s and the grooved cam t, the latter being on the cranked cam-shaft l, and operating the seg ment s by the pin u and groove i1. iThe receivers I slide in ways o' in the lower part of the barrel, and are connected to the cross-bar ui, which is mounted on the slide w, which are toothed 0n their under sides, and gear with the segmental wheels y on the rock-shaft z, which is worked by the segmental wheels, a' and b' and the groovcd cam c'oa the cranked camshaft l, which works wheel b' by its groove d' and the pin e' in the wheel. The locking-bars T are connected to the cross bar f', which ismounted at the ends on the uprights g', which are worked by the grooved cams h,in which are pins on the`yokesj, on which the uprights rest. The form ofthese cams and the yokes is represented in dotted lines in Fig. 6. X represents a hammer. These are pivoted to the frame at l'. They are moved back by cams m" on the cam-shaft, and vthrown forward by springs u. These cams are arranged so that the hammers follow each other in quick succession in their operation; but the cartridge# drop pers, breech-closers, cartridgereceivers, and the locking-bars for all the barrels work together in the order in which they are described. The charger consists of the long box A', which, vwhen charged and inverted, fits in; the top ofthe hoppers by the rabbet-joints B'. It has two slides, C and D', each having openings E', which, in their aggregate length, arev equal to half the length of the charger; and they have spaces between equal to them in length. The spaces in one close the openings in the other, so that both make a complete cover. i

When one is pulled out the length of the openingsl and spaces the openings through` both will coincide, and half of the cartridges in the charger will fall out.. Then, by pulling both covers out together thelength of the openings, the other half of the cartridges will fall out through the openings. After the first opening movement of the slide Dl the slide C' will I be caused to move with it by the flange F', which engages slide D' by the wall of one of the openings through it.

A number 0f chargers will bc employed with each gun. They will contain about four, cartridges for each barrel. The empty oneswill be taken olf and full ones put on as often as required durn g the progress of the firing; but they may be greatly increased iu capacity by increasing the depth and dividing 'them into several chambers by slidesC' D', so as to discharge from one chamber to another as the lower one is emptied.

F" is a scale, and G' a pointer, which I propose to combine with the turn-table E' or disk F and the platform G, by placing one on the turn-table and the other on the platform, and which will be adjusted so as to show the amount it will be necessary to turn the table for shifting the gun after each discharge to cover a new space or breadth at the distance of the objects fired upon. f

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a series of droppers, N, witha series of gun-barrels receiving the cartridges in slots in the tops, and a series of hoppers having inclined and slotted bottoms, substantially as specified.

2. In a machine-gun, thel ycombination of the reciprocating receivers l. and brcech-closers 'stantially as specified.

lames ht, operated intermittently by positive force, substantially as and for the purpose dcscried.

3. In a machine-gun, the combination of a series of lookin g-bars, T, with a series of breechclosers,'R, and automatic mechanism for operating the same, substantially as and for the purpose described;-

4. The combination of the cranks d, roll e, link j, crank g, pinion h, bar z', yoke j, and cam k with the crank-shaft and the droppers sub- 5. The combination ofthe har m, toothed steel bars u, segmental Wheelsp, and rook-shaft qwith the breeoholosors, substantially' as specitied.

f'lhe combination of the bar w, toothed sliding bars segmental wheels y, and the rook-shaft e with the receivers P, substantial- `VV'it'nesses:

A. P. THAYER, T. B. MosHER. 

